The Flint Health & Wellness District is Uptown Reinvestment Corporation’s most ambitious redevelopment efforts in downtown Flint. Completed in 2014, the Flint Health and Wellness District renovated two and a half city blocks through adaptive reuse of existing structures, new construction, and demolition. The iconic Flint Journal building was repurposed into a mixed-use office building, with Michigan State University (MSU) occupying approximately 40,000 square feet of space and 16 stately residential loft apartments. Approximately 115 MSU staff work in this facility.

The former Flint Journal printing press building was creatively reused into the Flint Farmers’ Market, which houses over 50 year-round small businesses, including restaurants and bakeries, artisans, and boutique retailers, and is on track to see 450,000 visitors this year. The Flint Farmers’ Market is a centralized hub for placemaking activity downtown beyond shopping for produce and other goods. The market hosts hundreds of events yearly, from private parties to public showcases of Flint food entrepreneurs.

The Health and Wellness District also includes Brush Park and the PACE building. Brush Park is a new downtown greenspace that serves as a location for downtown events and activities after demolishing the vacant, 19-story Genesee Towers building. Ascension Genesys Health System’s PACE building was previously redeveloped into approximately 28,000 square feet of commercial space to serve area seniors with a comprehensive care approach.